Cab companies ponder security after second robbery

The days of flagging a taxi on the street after dark are gone, says the manager of a local taxi company, whose drivers were hit twice this week by a weapon-wielding carjacker who robbed them of cash and cab.

"As far as I’m concerned, it’s too dangerous at night," said Dennis Lebeau of Roach’s Yellow Taxi, hours after the second incident occurred.

Though he could not speak for other companies, he said Roach’s is making changes to its nighttime pick-up policy.

"You need to pick a person up in front of a bar where you’re parked, or you need to pick them up at a specific address. And I think that’s only due diligence to do that."

Lebeau said the company is constantly working with its drivers to improve safety, but wouldn’t release the official policy for fear of giving other would-be robbers a head start.

While some cities require cab drivers be separated from their fares by a protective window, Lebeau said Roach’s is not convinced they’re all that effective.

There’s a couple of reasons it likely won’t happen in Thunder Bay, at least not at his company, he said.

First of all it reduces capacity, removing the front seat as an option for passengers. Second, it doesn’t deter robberies, he said.

"There’s a lot of ways to access the driver. These two people last night had a hatchet and a knife," Lebeau said. "If you tap the driver’s window it will explode before your eyes. You could throw a beer bottle against it 10 times and it will never break. But if you touch it with anything with a sharp point, the glass is just designed to go in a million pieces."

He added if he thought they worked, he’d install dividers in all company taxis, despite them being cost-prohibitive.

Lebeau said he's convinced the two incidents, the first of which occurred on Wednesday, are related.

Thunder Bay Police Services spokesman Chris Adams concurred.

"There are definite similarities in both incidents," Adams said. "We have the male suspect in both these incidents where he’s an approximately 6-foot-2, 230-pound Caucasian. In the second incident this morning he was accompanied by a female.

"So investigators are under the impression that it’s connected. It is a concern given the frequency, within two days, and the fact most importantly that weapons were used in both of these situations."

On Friday morning, Thunder Bay Police said at about 1 a.m. an unidentified Roach’s driver picked up a male and female fare at the intersection of Brock and Brown streets.

After the female passenger, described as being about 20 years of age, with black hair and a black ponytail and wearing a pink hoodie, lit a cigarette only to be told to put it out, a north-end destination was requested.

As per company policy when alcohol is involved, the driver asked his passengers to pay for their fare in advance.

At that point, police said the male, in his early 20s with a scar over his eyes and dressed in a white hoodie, produced a hatchet and the female a knife, which she held to the driver’s throat. They allegedly stole a small amount of cash from the driver and took off in his cab.

The stolen vehicle was quickly recovered a short distance away in the Arthur Street area, but there was no sign of either alleged assailant. It was last seen driving north on Brown Street.

Adams said the police department is dedicating extra resources to the incident and working with all local cab companies to advise them of the suspects’ descriptions to keep drivers safe.

Ideally cabbies should learn to trust their instincts when random fares are involved.

"I guess our best advice is always the common-sense approach with how they pick up fares," he said. "If their gut tells them there’s something wrong, or there is something wrong with the situation they’re driving into, they do have the ability to contact their dispatcher. They don’t necessarily have to take that fare either, if they feel unsafe," Adams said.

"Unfortunately it’s a high-risk job at times at night, and as we saw in the daytime. "There’s no real way of knowing sometimes if that person is carrying a knife or has an ulterior motive."

A spokesperson for Diamond-Lacey’s Taxi was not immediately available for comment to discuss any potential changes in their policy.